Sharing Your ResearchtoAdvance
Your Science and Your Career Promote orPerish: @AIP_Publishing publishing.aip.org ADVANCE RESEARCH SHARINGNETWORKING SCIENCE WHITE PAPER CAREER linkedin.com/company/aip-publishing facebook.com/AIPPublishing
PROMOTE INTRODUCTION
“Publish or perish.” This well-known concept has been used in academia for decades: to advance in their career, academics must continually publish journal articles to demonstrate value and maintain visibility.
The modern-day twist: “promote or perish.” Today, it’s not enough to simply publish research findings in quality journals, you also need to be your own advocate and promote your research.
To some scientists, self-promotion not only is uncomfortable, it’s distasteful. In their view, having research published in a reputable journal is enough, especially if the journal has a high impact factor.
However, to stand out as a scientist today, it’s also about getting noticed online. And more important, it’s about getting noticed by the right people, the right institutions, and the right influencers who can help you advance your science and your career — and obtain funding. That means being active on social networking platforms.
A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center what’s an overworked, time-strapped research in collaboration with the American Association scientist to do? Whether you are a seasoned for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) scientist or an early-career researcher looking (pewinternet.org/2015/02/15/how-scientists- to build your reputation, how do you navigate engage-public/) shows that scientists of all the labyrinth of choices available? generations have started to recognize the importance of sharing and talking about To help you get started, we’ve developed this their research. overview of some commonly used platforms, tips and best practices, other ways to increase But with so many social channels out there — your visibility, AIP Publishing resources, and links along with a myriad of ways to be visible — for additional reading. 2 TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE USING SOCIAL Policies around copyright and sharing research vary widely. NETWORKING SITES TO AIP Publishing tends to be more PROMOTE YOUR RESEARCH flexible than some publishers. For example, authors can submit work previously posted on preprint servers and they retain copyright for articles. They also have permission to post accepted manuscripts to SCNs, arXiv, a personal web page, and an employer’s website. Other A plethora of social networking sites exist, ranging from those publishers and institutions, used primarily by the research community to those used by the however, may be more stringent, general public, including scientists. All platforms have their pros so it’s important to ensure you and cons, and sites continue to evolve and add new features, so comply with their policies. it’s important to stay current on the latest news.
SCHOLARLY datasets more discoverable, COLLABORATION and allowing others to provide feedback on your research. NETWORKS SCNs are a useful platform As science becomes to make you more visible not more interdisciplinary only among your peers but and collaborative, scholarly also to those beyond your collaboration networks current sphere. (SCNs) open up a world of possibilities — literally — by enabling researchers to more Specific information about easily share their work, partner, AIP Publishing policies can and interact with scientists be found here: from around the globe. • publishing.aip.org/authors/ Mendeley, ReadCube, figshare, web-posting-guidelines ResearchGate, Trellis, and the • publishing.aip.org/authors/ Center for Open Science are rights-and-permissions just a few platforms that today’s researchers are using. For additional information, the website howcanishareit.com In addition to providing you with has a helpful tool that enables a platform to discover and read you to look up where a journal scientific content, SCNs offer article can be shared and how many other benefits, including you can share it. The website making your own articles and also provides links to a variety of resources, including author rights and responsibilities.
3 MAINSTREAM SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS In addition to SCNs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn also are used by many scientists today to share their research, collaborate with peers, and expand their visibility. These platforms also are an important communications tool used by many companies, government organizations, academic institutions, scientific associations, and journals to share breaking news and other important information, including research.
FACEBOOK Despite the controversary surrounding fake news and privacy issues, Facebook is arguably the most powerful platform currently on the market given its sheer reach. More than 2 billion users are active each day, roughly 85 percent come from outside the U.S. and Canada. Furthermore, Facebook’s own research shows that everyone is separated by a mere 3.5 degrees. So, if you need to find a research collaborator, don’t ignore this platform. SOCIAL MEDIA A few ways Facebook can help you professionally: IN CHINA • Promote your science: Link to recent journal articles and blogs you have Scientists in China written, and let people know about conferences you are attending or use two popular local speaking at. You also can post videos and create Facebook Live videos. platforms to disseminate • Keep in touch: It can be difficult to keep tabs on colleagues and mentors, and discuss their work. especially as we advance in our careers. Facebook ensures you do not lose these valuable connections. WECHAT • Create a page: One way to keep others informed about what you are WeChat is a messaging, working on is to create a page for your research or your lab. social media, and payment platform that is nearly ubiquitous in TWITTER China. This mobile-based Twitter has come a long way from posts about “what people ate for app offers researchers breakfast” or mere celebrity gossip. The platform enables you to connect opportunities to share not only with the science community, but also with journalists who follow their work and to researchers and even get story ideas from Twitter. connect with colleagues in a collaborative A few ways Twitter can help you professionally: environment. • Promote your research: As with all platforms, link to your journal articles, posters, blogs, and other relevant information. WEIBO • Follow influencers:Whether you know them, follow people and organizations that interest you and engage with their posts by Sina Weibo is one commenting and retweeting; they often will follow you back. of the most popular microblogging sites in • Keep up with breaking science news: Because news can be pushed out China. Weibo is a useful as it happens, people frequently see stories on Twitter before they appear channel for researchers anywhere else. in China to create, share, • Use hashtags: To monitor discussions and be seen by others, use and and discover content follow relevant hashtags, indicated by the # symbol. For example, if you using hashtags. cannot attend the MRS Fall Meeting, follow news emerging from the event through the conference hashtag, #F18MRS. 4 LINKEDIN Think of LinkedIn as an online CV/resume, contacts list, and networking platform all wrapped into one, easy-to-use tool…provided you keep your profile up to date, which also means having a current, professional photo! A few ways LinkedIn can help you professionally: • Grow your network: To build and expand your professional circle of contacts, connect with people you know and new people you meet at conferences. As you advance in your career, you never know who might be of assistance to you down the road. • Find new connections: If you are looking to connect with someone you don’t know, it’s easy to find who in your immediate network has a direct connection and may be willing to make an introduction. • Be visible: LinkedIn makes it easy for others — including recruiters and academic institutions —to reach out to you, whether it’s about a job opportunity or a chance to collaborate on a research project. • Join discussion groups: Stay active and engaged with your community through existing online forums. And if you don’t see what you are looking for, create your own discussion group.
SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES
ENGAGE: SOCIAL MEDIA Social media is “social,” so two-way BEST PRACTICES communication is essential. Retweet, comment, like, and share posts — and others are likely to do the same for you, thereby increasing your POST CONTENT REGULARLY: following and your visibility. POST How often you post is up to you. POST But, as a general rule-of-thumb, you THINK BEFORE YOU POST: should post at least several times Could that grad school photo or a a week or month, not just once a comment made out of frustration semester, otherwise there’s little value come back to haunt you at some in being on the platform. Content point in your career? Remember, can range from talking about your content lives online forever, science to commenting on important sometimes even after you delete it. research, or simply sharing a fun fact. DON’T ENGAGE IN HEATED DEBATES: INCLUDE VISUALS: If someone attacks you or your Whenever possible, include a photo, research, don’t become embroiled video, or graphic. Content with visuals in an online battle. Take the is more likely to be read and shared. conversation offline. 5 5 OTHER WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR RESEARCH
Beyond social networking sites, many other avenues exist for spreading the word about the important work you are doing and increasing your visibility in the scientific community. One of the best ways is to leverage your current network.
WORK WITH YOUR PIO If you are affiliated with an institution, make friends with your Public Information Officer (PIO)/Media Relations Department. Their job is to promote research coming out of your institution. PIOs are well connected to journalists, reporters, and the news stories they are working on. They understand the type of research and scientists they are looking to profile and can be a great resource to you in promoting your work. But make friends with PIOs before you need their assistance, and find out how you can be a resource to them.
TAP INTO PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS What scientific societies, membership organizations, or other professional groups are you affiliated with? Nearly all organizations have multiple ways of highlighting what members are doing, ranging from announcing job promotions to the publication of research papers. These organizations often are looking for people to speak at industry conferences, volunteer for committees participate in webinars, or write guest blogs, so it’s good practice to keep in touch with them and make your availability known.
EXPAND YOUR WRITTEN AND VERBAL SKILLS As a scientist, you already have significant experience with writing and giving oral presentations. Why not consider starting your own blog, serving as a guest blogger for a media outlet, or creating your own YouTube channel? Depending on the audience, writing a blog or developing a YouTube channel may allow you to deviate from the more traditional academic writing and speaking and exercise your creativity. Granted these options are not for everyone, and they can be time consuming. But those who opt to use their written and/or verbal skills in new ways, find it rewarding. AIP PUBLISHING RESOURCES
Publishers also play a key role in disseminating scientific research. AIP Publishing showcases new content to our global readership as it’s published, highlighting Featured Articles and Editor’s Picks on the journal homepages, and actively promoting articles through table-of-contents alerts, email newsletters, and social media channels. Here are two additional services AIP Publishing provides to help authors spread the word about their science.
Scilights: These science highlights showcase some of the top papers we publish and are promoted through our website, monthly newsletters, and social media channels. Scilights also are designed for authors to share them on their social platforms, thereby further expanding their reach and readership. Research shows that articles that have a Scilight receive 2 ½ times more downloads than articles that do not have a corresponding Scilight.
Press Releases: AIP Publishing disseminates the latest news about scientific discoveries to the media via two global distribution services: PR Newswire and AAAS’s EurekAlert. We send out an average of 150 press releases a year and feature them on our website’s homepage: publishing.aip.org. All Scilights include a “twitter friendly title” and a “standfirst,” Research shows that articles that have an which is a brief description of your research and is just the right length for a Facebook post. accompanying press release are downloaded three to four times more often than articles that do not have an accompanying release.
7 CONCLUSION & ADDITIONAL READING
CONCLUSION
The explosion in technology has changed the way we all work and interact with one another. Taking an active role in sharing your research can help raise your visibility, build your personal brand, and advance your career.
Like all good science, research is key. In the end, only you can decide which platforms are best for you. So experiment and have fun!
ADDITIONAL READING
• Pew Research Center, The Science People See on Social Media: pewinternet.org/2018/03/21/the-science-people-see-on-social-media • Harvard Business Review, “How Academics and Researchers Can Get More Out of Social Media:” hbr.org/2016/06/how-academics-and-researchers-can-get-more-out-of-social-media • Fast Company, “Why We Need Scientists on Social Media, Now More Than Ever:” fastcompany.com/3067752/why-we-need-scientists-on-social-media-now-more-than-ever • GotScience Magazine, “Scientists and Social Media:” gotscience.org/2017/03/scientists-social-media • eLife, “How open science helps researchers succeed:” https://elifesciences.org/articles/16800
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